A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today announced that it has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over the distribution of an anti-Muslim film to 28 million homes in presidential election swing states.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is urging the FEC to investigate whether the Clarion Fund, a shadowy non-profit organization that distributed DVDs containing “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” is really a front for anIsrael-based group seeking to help Sen. John McCain win the U.S. presidential election. (No information about a board of directors, staff or even a physical address is offered on the fund’s website.)

In its complaint to the FEC, CAIR wrote in part:

“The Clarion Fund recently financed the distribution of some 28 million DVDs containing the film ‘Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West’ in what many political analysts describe as ‘swing’ states in the upcoming presidential elections. Those same analysts say the distribution of the ‘Obsession’ DVD was designed to benefit a particular presidential candidate, namely Sen. John McCain…

“According to the website for the Secretary of State for New York, Clarion Fund Inc. is incorporated in New York as a Delaware based foreign not-for-profit corporation. According to the Delaware Department of Corporations, Robert (Rabbi Raphael) Shore, Rabbi Henry Harris and Rebecca Kabat incorporated Clarion Fund. All three of whom are reported to serve as employees of Aish HaTorah International, an organization apparently based in Israel. Also according to the Delaware Department of Corporations, the incorporators of the Clarion Fund used Aish HaTorah’s New York City address (150 West 46th Street, New York) to incorporate Clarion Fund in Delaware…

“It appears that the funding for the production, marketing and distribution of ‘Obsession’ may have originated from Israel-based Aish HaTorah International.”

An unnamed reporter from the Anti Defamation League (ADL) claimed to be present at the JAM Islamic conference for Peace in suburban Baltimore on August 16th where I was one of the speakers. My topic, Christian Zionism, may sound unusual for an Islamic conference, but not to the event sponsor, Dr. Kaukab Siddique, whose conference theme was unity for peace. *1)

The ADL took exception to a number of speakers, including former Attorney General, Ramsey Clark.“Peace” seems to be a threat to the ADL.In its official publication the ADL carried no less than three stories about the conference and had this to say about your writer:

Charles (“Chuck”) E. Carlson is a co-founder and director of We Hold These Truths, an Arizona-based Christian anti-Semitic group. We Hold These Truths has held demonstrations around the county outside churches it views as supporting Zionism. *2)

The ADL frequently arranges for interference with meetings where it does not want the subject matter aired. This writer has twice previously been among the scheduled speakers at meetings where the host hotel was intimidated to cancel the banquet room accommodations on the day of the event. I was told there was pressure from unnamed, but presumed powerful local businessmen thought to be associated with the ADL. In each case the hotel management caved under pressure, and at no small legal risk to their companies, they put the scheduled meeting in the street. In both cases the meeting, one in Sacramento CA and the other in Orange County CA were able to reconvene hastily elsewhere.

A more damaging case revealing how the ADL attempts to silence those exposing Christian Zionism. Duke University was the scheduled site of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement’s two-day conference on October 15, 2004. That time the Anti-Defamation League publicly objected to several speakers it labeled as “anti-Semites.” It also claimed one student speaker was prone to petty violence.

A military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay has resigned because his office withheld exculpatory evidence against an Afghan detainee, the prisoner’s lawyers say.

The attorneys for Mohammed Jawad say the prosecutor, Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, backs their bid to get charged dismissed against Jawad, who is accused of throwing a grenade that injured two U.S. soldiers. Vandeveld could not be reached.

Michael Berrigan, the tribunals’ deputy chief defense counsel, said today that Vandeveld told them the prosecutor’s office was refusing to hand over the evidence.

Iran’s president says he is interested in ‘friendly’ relation with Washington, regardless of who is in charge of the White House.

In an interview with CNN’s Larry King Live, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he is willing to meet with both US presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain but had no preference between the two.

“We believe that these are issues relating to the domestic affairs of the United States. And decisions pertaining to that must be made by the American people,” he said.

When asked whether Obama’s proposal to meet would interest him, Ahmadinejad said he does not rely on the promises candidates make in the ‘campaign period’.

“(During this time,) anyone can say anything. So we disregard that. What matters is that once someone is in office, we have to watch and see if that person will bring about some changes in policy or continue the same old path,” he expounded.

Israeli settlers sprayed chemicals on a group of Palestinian farmers while attacking them in the Qalqilia area of the northern West Bank on Monday, human rights fieldworkers reported.

According to a report compiled by the International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS), five settlers, two of them riding horses, from an outpost called Havat Gilad approached two farmers while they were working on their land in the village of Immatin.

As the settlers started surrounding the two Palestinian farmers, they phoned their family for help. In the meantime, an additional fifteen Palestinians from Far’ata who had been working in their land nearby rushed to the aid of the other farmers.

The farmers told IWPS that the settlers threw stones at the Palestinians, threatened to beat them, and set small fires on the hillside. Approximately 15 more masked settlers joined them.

Fifteen Israeli soldiers arrived, looking on while the settlers continued their assault, the farmers said.

[The following is a copy of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly early Wednesday morning, as translated by the Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran News Service:]

Mr. President, Excellencies,

I am grateful to the Almighty for granting me another opportunity to be present in this world Assembly.

In the last three years, I have talked to you about great hopes in the bright future of human society, and some solutions for achieving sustainable peace and expanding love, compassion, and cooperation.

I have also talked about unjust systems governing the world; pressures exerted by some powers seeking to trample the rights of other nations, oppression imposed on the majority of the global community, especially on the people of Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Africa, Latin America, and Asia; about challenges we are faced with, such as efforts to shatter the sanctity of families, destroy cultures, humiliate lofty values, neglect commitments, expand the shadow of threats, as well as about the arms race and the unfairness and inability of the systems governing world affairs in reforming the status quo.

With the occurrence of various new developments, the debility of existing mechanisms has been revealed even more. However, at the same time, an encouraging trend, which has originated in the thoughts and beliefs of peoples, has blossomed and become stronger. Posed against the despairs caused by the new developments, this trend has ignited the ray of hope for a brilliant, desirable and beautiful future in the hearts of men.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

Today I would like to talk to you about the main reasons behind the conditions ruling the world and the means to tackle them. Of course, you are already aware of what I am talking about, but I think it is necessary to remind ourselves.

It seems that the roots of problems lie in the way one views and perceives the world and humankind, as well as in the important issues of freedom, obeisance to God, and justice. The world, humankind, freedom and obeisance to God, and justice, have been of utmost importance to humans throughout history.

1. The World:

God Almighty purposefully created the world. This world is the bedrock for the evolution and growth of a creature called man, and the laws governing the world and all other creatures are at the service of man’s quest for loftiness. The world should provide the needed opportunities for the fulfillment of the purpose behind man’s creation. No phenomenon, creature, or indeed anything has been created in vain. Together they all pave the ground for the flourishing of mankind in a complex and purposeful system, and they are, each, one of the signs of God Almighty. All are His creations and He is the sole creator and ruler of the world. All existence including power, knowledge and wealth come from Him.

2. Humankind:

God created the world for humans and humans for Himself. He created humans from mud and in the soil, but He did not want them to remain in the soil and with animal instincts. He kindled the light of guidance in their souls and asked them to rise from the soil to the heavens and to Him with the help of wisdom, prophets and perfect men.

The world will ultimately disappear, but God has created man for eternity and has made them a manifestation of Himself. Creativity, mercifulness, kindness, knowledge, wisdom, zeal, concealment of sins, splendor, justice, bounteousness, generosity, greatness, love, glory, dignity, forgiveness, insight, kingship and all other goodness and beauty are attributes of God.

God has not created humans for aggression, bloodshed, rancor, selfishness and destruction. He made humans His vicegerents on earth and has asked them to, on the one hand, make earth prosper by using their God-given potentials and to prepare the ground for the growth of divine attributes in all humans, and to provide all with a life full of beauty, amity, freedom, justice and goodness; and on the other hand in pursuance of this path, to prepare for a prosperous, everlasting life endowed by God’s mercy.

God has obligated humans to live divinely and socially, for it is only through social life and interactions with others that divine attributes may emerge.

The Annual Al-Quds Day Demonstration will take place on Sunday 28th September 2008, 1pm at Marble Arch and marching towards Trafalgar Square. The International Day of Al-Quds is day of the oppressed in Palestine and around the World.vIt is held each year on the last Friday of Ramadan. Al-Quds Day is not an Islamic religious holiday but a political event open to both Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and thus observance is not obligatory in Islam.

The remembrance of this day originated in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The observance was suggested by Imam Khomeini, Founder of the Islamic Revolution, in August of that year, saying:

“I invite Muslims all over the globe to consecrate the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan as Jerusalem Day and to proclaim the international solidarity of Muslims in support of the legitimate rights of the Muslim people of Palestine.”

“For many years, I have been notifying the Muslims of the danger posed by the usurper Israel which today has intensified its savage attacks against the Palestinian brothers and sisters, and which, in the south of Lebanon in particular, is continually bombing Palestinian homes in the hope of crushing the Palestinian struggle. I ask all the Muslims of the world and the Muslim governments to join together to sever the hand of this usurper and its supporters. I call on all the Muslims of the world to select as Jerusalem Day the last Friday in the holy month of Ramadan – which is itself a determining period and can also be the determiner of the Palestinian people’s fate – and through a ceremony demonstrating the solidarity of Muslims world-wide, announce their support for the legitimate rights of the Muslim people. I ask God Almighty for the victory of the Muslims over the infidels.”

The head of an Egyptian research center predicted that the world will see a Middle East without Israel by the year 2025.

Muhammad al-Suruji, researched the events following September, 11th, including the defeat of the Great Middle East plan which tried to secure Israel’s safety at the hands of resistance forces in the region, and including the black days that Israel saw in 2006 after its defeat in the war against Hizbollah and Hamas’s taking military prisoners.

Hundreds of analyses by the Israeli elite directly show that fear, which has overshadowed the Zionist society, will lead to Israel’s destruction.

Muhammad al-Suruji added that the increase of immigration to Europe from Israel and the dislike of Jews in other countries, especially America, to migrate to Israel caused 70 percent of American Jews to shut their eyes to Israel. It is not important for them that Israel will destroyed very soon.

The change in Palestine’s favor amongst the Arabs is also evidence that Israel’s destruction is immanent.

Suppose that you and your neighbor were not on friendly terms. One day you saw a large cannon in his front yard, pointed in your direction. Hmm. Concerned, you sought to obtain a similar weapon for yourself, and were not surprised to learn that your neighbor objected to such a move on your part.

You were astonished, however, to learn that people hundreds – even thousands – of miles away also objected. Your acquisition of such a weapon, they claimed, was a provocation. Several of them stopped doing business with you, even though you had not as yet acquired any weaponry, and they urged others to take the same action. You have difficulty understanding how it can be a provocation for you to arm yourself, but not a provocation for others, via sanctions of some sort, to slowly starve you to death.

Today this situation prevails in the Middle East, with Iran being the nation suspected, but certainly not proved, of developing nuclear weapons. Horrors!

There are nine governments with nuclear weapons: U.S., Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. Russia has the most, with 5830, followed by the U.S. with 4075. Israel has 100–200, according to estimates. Israel isn’t particularly forthcoming about its nuclear arsenal, or whether or not it is actively developing nuclear weapons. It is Israel, of course, that expresses the greatest concern about Iran’s possible development of nuclear devices.

Well, that’s understandable. Iran and Israel are hardly on good terms. Mutual suspicion is to be expected. We could easily sympathize with Israel’s accumulation of a nuclear arsenal as a response to one possessed by the Iranians. But it’s the other way around. It’s the Israelis who have a nuclear arsenal, but few are sympathetic with the Iranians desire to have one, too.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made one speech in March to damp down the furor over his relationship with his controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright. He made another speech at the NAACP convention in July. Other than those two speeches, he has not uttered another word about racial issues since.

Republican rival John McCain spoke at the same NAACP convention. Shortly after that, he issued a terse statement backing the Ward Connerly concocted anti-affirmative action initiative on the November ballot in Arizona and two other states. Other than that, he has not uttered a single word about racial issues since.

The audience for McCain and Obama’s speeches at the NAACP convention were mostly blacks. That reinforced the notion that racial issues are by, and for, blacks, with no broad policy implications for all Americans as issues such as health care, jobs and the economy, terrorism and Iraq.

About the only talk about race during the campaign has been the interminable Hydra headed question of: Can Obama make history by being the first African-American president? And if he doesn’t will race sink him? That’s hardly the candid, free-wheeling, in-depth talk about the problems that impact the lives of millions of black, Latino, Asian, and American Indian voters. Minority voters make up about one quarter of American voters, and they deserve to hear what the candidates have to say about racial matters and, more importantly, what their administration plans to do about them.

Obama and McCain’s racial blind spot has been ritual blindness in all candidates in recent America presidential races. Racial issues have seeped into presidential debates only when they ignite public anger and division. In a 1988 debate, Bush Sr. hammered Democratic contender Michael Dukakis as being a card carrying ACLU’er, a milksop on crime, and tossed in the Willie Horton hit to drive home the point. In one of their debates in 2000, Bush and Democratic challenger Al Gore clashed over affirmative action

Race has been a taboo subject for presidents and their challengers on the campaign trail for the past two decades for a simple reason. No president or presidential challenger, especially a Democratic challenger, will risk being tarred as pandering to minorities for the mere mention of racial problems. In stark contrast, Obama, let alone McCain, would never worry about being accused of pandering to Christian Evangelicals by talking incessantly about gay marriage and abortion.